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Alberta Ferretti took a buttoned up approach to seduction in her show, with high necklines, below the knee hems - and a self-assured, hard-boiled swagger that brought to mind Joan Crawford and Bette Davies in their glory years.

Who doesn't love film noir, particularly when it yields results like Alberta Ferretti's show? Glossy black leather dresses, supple as a criminal's conscience; pinstripe trouser suits, sharp as a stiletto, and er, stilettos, ankle boots and court shoes as pointy as...ok it's hard to keep this Raymond Chandler flow going. Suffice to say all the blondes - and the brunettes - on the catwalk were sultry enough to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window.

And what a change from the floaty Ferretti priestesses of yore. They were lovely, but it's nice to see them show their dangerous side now and then. Not that they're giving too much away. These are grown up women who like to keep their wild side on a tight leash and their hair in a tight chignon.

"I think it's nice not to give too much away," said Alberta Ferretti, echoing Adele backstage after her show. It wasn't all prim. The gauzy evening dresses may have had high necks, but there were swooping backs, hints of flesh and sparkling, good-time-girl fringing. Nearly all of it black.

Of her move into leather (which is shaping up to be a major trend for next winter) the queen of chiffon talked more in terms of evolution than radical departure, "It's not leather of the past. It's so soft and you can meld it with chiffon, stretch or silk... in any case, it's good to change sometimes, don't you think?"